The Sandlot Themed Birthday Party!

Hello Friends!

Now that the party has passed, I wanted to write a blog post and share more photos from our little guy’s Sandlot themed birthday party. It was such a fun theme to plan and decorate for….. and lucky for us, there was no shortage of baseballs or wooden crates in our house! Luckily, a lot of the “decorations” we used for the party were items we pulled throughout our home. In addition the the party photos, I have a few tips that I wanted to share with you all when it comes to party planning and how not to blow the budget.

Plan ahead!

Easier said then done right? I am a MAJOR procrastinator myself, so I often have to remind myself of my own advice! First thing I recommend is to pick a “theme” or color scheme as soon as possible.

(I am very much a “planner” so I am known to start planning for a party several months in advance! That’s just me and I understand not everyone does that but I do recommend starting to at least get those wheels turning ASAP!)

2. Shop around and purchase when on sale (if possible)

Once you have an idea of what kind of colors or items to be on the lookout for, this will help you take advantage of deals when you see them. Create a budget for the party and stick to it!

I am a big fan of shopping the after holiday sales, depending on when your parties fall throughout the year. For example, my daughter’s birthday is in May, so I would always shop the after Easter clearance for plain decorations and candy for her party. I would look for the candy that didn’t have Easter labeling and for plates, napkins, bags etc in colors that would work with her birthday party for that year. By buying these items 50-75% off, this helped me purchase little by little and save big in the end.

EXAMPLE: I purchased these plastic baseballs months before the party, I found them in the Easter section at the 99 Cent Only Store. They came in a pack of 6 for $1, so I purchased a few bags and tucked them away in a box I had designated for his birthday party.

EXAMPLE 2: Scoreboard poster was ordered through Zazzle in advance. They had emailed over a free $20, so I shopped the site until I found something that would work for his party. I believe the poster ended up costing $5, because at the time, the posters were on sale 50% off, then I added in my $20 credit!

BONUS: We can put the poster up in his room afterward. We added the poster to a piece of galvanized metal we picked up at a yard sale for $2!

3. Incorporate items you already have:

Luckily since both Izzy and our son are huge baseball fans, we had a lot of items to work with when it came to decorating. Izzy has several wooden crates and galvanized buckets that we were able to use both inside and out. The American flags were pulled from our 4th of July decorations and my father in law brought several vintage pennants from the East Coast because I asked him to be on the lookout when at flea markets and such. The pennants will also be another decor item for our sons bedroom and the man cave! I did purchase the mini pennants and a larger vintage through the local resale app, Offerup for $15.

All the jars, tins and vintage books were items we already had and mixed in, we just purchased the goodies to fill them up! (Don’t forget about your local dollar stores, a lot of the goodies were purchased at the Dollar Tree and 99 Cent Only Stores, just be sure to check expiration dates!)

4. Pace your DIY projects:

It always seems, no matter how much prep work we do, we are still running around last minute trying to get things done. It. NEVER. FAILS! So, if you are like me and overwhelm yourself with a “DIY TO DO” list, try to work through the list slowly, one project at a time. I do understand that there are certain projects that can’t be done until a few days before, especially if it involves food, but try to work on projects that can be done early and if you can, recruit your family and friends to help 😉

For this party, we were able to do a lot of the prep work earlier in the week. We made the s’more thank you tags, but didn’t actually assemble those until the night before. The pennants and banner were also put together and put in place several days before and once I had the “layout” of the table, I was able to plan where what items would go where.

I will admit that the morning of, I was using my Cameo to cut out a paper Babe Ruth signature to glue onto the pinata but all worked out well in the end!

5. HAVE FUN!

Sit back and enjoy the party! Understand that everything may not come out as planned and something WILL probably go wrong, but that is OK! For us, it was the birthday cake. We ordered a small round Dodger cake with the cupcakes but a large sheet cake was made on accident. With the party starting in an hour, there was no time to remake so they gave us the huge cake for the price of a small one and it turned out just as great!

I truly enjoy the planning and decorating with hosting parties and the kids look forward to celebrating their special day every year. We understand that not everyone throws a big party or are into it as much as we are, but I hope a some of these tips were helpful, just a few things to keep in mind when planning your next party, no matter the size or scale.

Mel and Izzy